BLACKBOOK SMART GUIDE
BLACKBOOK SMART GUIDE Clockwise from top left: the opening exhibitions in the atrium of the ICA Miami; Kevin Cory, owner and chef at NAOE; tapas platter from BRAVA; rendering of the new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science Starck and LA nightclub import Hyde Lounge to downtown, just in time for the culinary renaissance that is already overtaking the area. Leading the charge is renowned chef Kevin Cory, who calls the shots at NAOE (naoemiami.com) on Brickell Key with a divine tasting menu and just eight seats to claim a daily changing menu of the city’s freshest sushi, which could be caught in the waters that surround the restaurant or flown in directly from a Japanese fish market. N by NAOE right next door dozen macaroni-and-cheese varietals, proves the area isn’t losing its laid-back vibe. Just north of Brickell, Miami’s Downtown continues to serve as the city’s main cultural hub with a host of first-class museums and entertainment venues, including the Cesar Pellidesigned Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts (arshtcenter.org), where world-class venues include a 2,400-seat opera house, 2,200-seat concert hall and 300-seat black-box space for independent performances. And if all that culture works up an appetite, there’s also a fine dining eatery on site, BRAVA, for three courses of pre-show munching on local favourites like avocado and tomato salad or brown sugar and rum-cured short ribs. One block south, the makeover of Museum Park on Biscayne Bay is finally starting to show results. Just in time for the 2013 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, the Miami Art Museum was relocated and reborn as Pérez Art Museum Miami (pamm. org), an indoor-outdoor edifice that takes advantage of the vast amount of home-grown talent by commissioning and exhibiting works from has twice as many seats, but reservations are some of the toughest in town. Adding to the area’s delectable diversity is newcomer Tamarina (tamarinarestaurants.com), husband-and-wife team Yona and Tunu Puri’s ode to the Mediterranean where locally sourced fish and produce are prepared with traditional Italian techniques, resulting in dishes like broth-based hog snapper with fregola, clams and wild mushrooms. Making its debut in February, Arjun Waney brought Coya (coyarestaurant.com), his slick-but-not-stuffy Peruvian restaurant/pisco bar/ members-only club concept, to the neighbourhood. Meanwhile American Social (americansocialbar.com), a gastropub on the banks of the Miami River boasting pouryourself beer taps and a halflocal artists and designers. In 2016, PAMM will be joined by the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science (miamisci.org) when it moves from Coconut Grove into its state-of-the-art new Museum Park space complete with aquarium, digital dome and interactive exhibits for all ages. Also skewing to the burgeoning culture vulture set is the National YoungArts Foundation (youngarts. org), where a regular slate of adventurous programmes was recently joined by Ted’s at YoungArts, a lounge, restaurant and performance space on the seventh floor of the YoungArts Tower, the group’s national headquarters (and former Bacardi Tower) that is being renovated with the help of its artistic advisor Frank Gehry (it pays to have talented friends). Further uptown, the Wynwood Arts District may be a lot shinier today compared to the earliest days of its gentrification even a decade ago. And like many hip districts that found new life thanks to an influx of artists and other creative types, many of those who helped to rebuild Wynwood have long since been priced out of it. But what does PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: © ICA MIAMI, JEFFERY SALTER, JUSTIN NAMON, © PATRICIA AND PHILLIP FROST MUSEUM OF SCIENCE 28 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: © ADRIENNE ARSHT CENTER, © WYNWOOD BREWING, © CHROME HEARTS, © THE MIAMI BEACH EDITION, © CIRCA 39 This casual-cool vibe extends to the culinary scene, which offers an eclectic mix of upscale street food Clockwise from top left: the Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Adrienne Arsht Center; inside Wynwood Brewing Company; a ring from Chrome Hearts; the palm tree-lined pool of The Miami Beach EDITION; the Moroccan Tea Service cocktail from Circa 39 remain is a more permanent – and polished – reminder of the ingenuity that rebirthed the area, as evidenced by places like Wynwood Walls (thewynwoodwalls.com), a constantly evolving (and free-to-all) outdoor street art park featuring large-scale murals. This casual-cool vibe extends to the area’s culinary scene, which offers an eclectic mix of upscale street food, like chef Jeremiah Bullfrog’s GastroPod (gastropodmiami. com), a vintage Airstreamturned-mobile eatery serving up gourmet burgers and hot dogs (picture a triple-decker slider with shaved pork belly on a potato bun), and Coyo Taco (coyotaco.com), a new farm-to-table taquería where the margaritas and tortillas are made from scratch and the guacamole is smashed to order. The area is also home to the city’s first craft brewery, the aptly named Wynwood Brewing Company (wynwoodbrewing.com), which serves up an award-winning Pop’s Porter that they swear pairs perfectly with a nice cigar, and a rotating lineup of seasonal blends that are often made from locally sourced ingredients, like the La Pantera stout, made with coffee courtesy of the nearby renowned Panther Coffee (panthercoffee.com). On the northeast corner of Wynwood, the Design District is constantly reinventing itself, setting the bar just a little bit higher with each new development. Among the area’s newest residents are edgy lifestyle brand Chrome Hearts (chromehearts. com), luggage label Rimowa (rimowa.com) and a handful of high-end watchmakers including A Lange & Söhne (alange-soehne.com), Hublot (hublot.com) and Piaget (piaget. com). Yet the area has remained committed to its artistic roots, with public art pieces from Le Corbusier and Buckminster CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 29
